No. 23 Florida 80, Georgia 76, OT
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Canyon Barry took a slight detour on his way to the locker room Saturday. As he jogged off the floor, he swung by the student section and delivered high-fives to everyone on the front row.
Talk about going above and beyond. Barry had already given the home crowd plenty.
Barry scored 27 points, including four in overtime, and No. 23 Florida handed Georgia its 14th consecutive loss in Gainesville with an 80-76 victory.
"He's playing with a different level of confidence," Florida Coach Mike White said. "I really believe that. I think we can all see that. He's just shooting the ball better. He's shooting the ball better in practice, he's shooting it better in shoot-around and it's carrying over. I know he spent a lot of time in the gym and it's really important to him."
It was critical against Georgia (11-6, 3-2 SEC).
Although John Egbunu sealed the victory with a free throw in the waning seconds, Barry and redshirt freshman Keith Stone carried the Gators (14-3, 5-0) for most of the game.
Barry made 7 of 13 shots, including two four-point plays, and was perfect from the free-throw line. His four underhanded free throws were key in overtime, especially the ones that came after his offensive rebound on a miss by KeVaughn Allen (North Little Rock) from well behind the three-point arc.
Barry finished with five three-pointers, including three in the first half.
"Obviously, when you make your first shot, it helps with your confidence," Barry said.
Stone had a career-high 17 points. Barry and Stone helped Florida's reserves outscore Georgia's 51-5.
The Bulldogs led much of the way, but faded after leading scorer Yante Maten fouled out with 3:51 left in regulation. Georgia led 64-59 at the time and looked as if it would pick up its first victory in Gainesville since 2002. But Florida rallied, taking advantage of Maten's absence in the middle.
Kasey Hill and Barry had consecutive driving layups that put the Gators up with 2 minutes to play. Georgia's J.J. Frazier answered with a three-pointer.
The Gators had plenty of chances to win in regulation, but Hill missed two free throws and had a turnover in the final minute.
Frazier led the Bulldogs with 25 points. Juwan Parker added 17, and Maten had 15 before fouling out.
"It's definitely a heartbreaker," Parker said. "You hate to lose like that."
The victory was the Gators' seventh in a row, their longest winning streak since reaching the Final Four in 2014.
No. 6 Kentucky 92, Auburn 72
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Malik Monk (Lepanto, Bentonville) scored 24 points, helping No. 6 Kentucky beat Auburn for its fifth consecutive victory.
The balanced Wildcats (15-2, 5-0) shot 57 percent from the field and had five players score at least 10 points. Edrice "Bam" Adebayo had 15 points, and De'Aaron Fox finished with 13.
The physical matchup included 49 fouls, with Fox fouling out with 7:23 remaining. Kentucky connected on just 17 of 32 free throws, while Auburn was 5 of 15.
T.J. Dunans led Auburn (11-6, 1-4) with 23 points, and Mustapha Heron had 11.
Kentucky made eight three-pointers and led 51-39 at halftime. Monk went 4 for 8 from long range and the Wildcats finished with 11 three-pointers on 19 attempts.
Mychal Mulder had 12 points for Kentucky, and Isaiah Briscoe finished with 10.
Alabama 81, LSU 66
BATON ROUGE -- Alabama guard Corban Collins scored a season-high 24 points against the school where he began his college career and Alabama (10-6, 3-1) defeated reeling LSU (9-7, 1-4).
Collins is a post-graduate transfer who spent his freshman season with the Tigers in 2012-2013 and played at Morehead State for two seasons before closing his career this season at Alabama. Against the Tigers, he was 7 of 11 from three-point range after making just 2 of 10 three-pointers over his previous three games combined.
"He made shots for us. He kept us calm," Alabama Coach Avery Johnson said. "What we saw tonight is why we recruited him. We knew we needed three-point shooting. We knew we needed leadership and ball-handling."
Riley Norris scored a season-high 20 points, including back-to-back three-pointers that broke a 56-56 tie as the Crimson Tide dominated the final five minutes for their fifth victory in six games.
Duop Reath had 12 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots for LSU, which has lost three in a row and five of six.
Antonio Blakeney scored 11 points, nearly seven points below his team-leading pace this season, and then went down with a right ankle injury with a minute to go.
Skylar Mays added 12 points and Aaron Epps 11 for the Tigers.
Alabama, which shot only 28.1 percent (9 of 32) during the first half, trailed or was tied with LSU for most of the game, but shot 51.6 percent during the second half and hardly missed a shot down the stretch.
The Tide haves won seven of their past 10 with two of its three losses coming against opponents who were ranked at the time (Oregon and Florida).
Mississippi State 67, Texas A&M 59
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Schnider Herard's tip-in just before the halftime buzzer -- a swat from about 10 feet away that somehow went in the hoop -- certainly had an element of luck.
The other 14 points the 6-10 freshman scored showed off a whole lot of rapidly improving skill.
Herard scored a career-high 16 points, Lamar Peters added 14 and Mississippi State beat Texas A&M. The Bulldogs won their third consecutive game heading into a showdown with No. 6 Kentucky on Tuesday.
Herard made 5 of 7 shots from the field and 6 of 8 free throws. He also was a consistent presence on defense, making things hard for Texas A&M's talented and tall frontcourt.
"Schnider had his best game as a Bulldog," Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland said. "He was a force inside today. Did a great job getting to the line and going aggressively to the basket. This was a huge step for him playing against really good players."
Peters, also a freshman, made all 11 of his free-throw attempts. He added five steals.
The Bulldogs' leading scorer, sophomore Quinndary Weatherspoon, had just 13 points, all in the second half.
Texas A&M (9-7, 1-4) lost despite a 38-23 rebounding advantage. The Aggies were hurt by 22 turnovers and shot just 1 of 14 (7.1 percent) from three-point range. Tyler Davis led Texas A&M with 16 points, while D.J. Hogg added 13 points and eight rebounds.
"We can't turn the ball over 22 times on the road against a good team and expect to win," Texas A&M Coach Billy Kennedy said.
SOUTH CAROLINA 67,
MISSISSIPPI 56
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Chris Silva scored a career high 16 points and tied his best with 11 rebounds to lead South Carolina (14-3, 4-0) over Mississippi (10-7, 1-4). The Gamecocks are off to their best league start since the 1997 team, which won South Carolina’s only SEC regular season title.
PJ Dozier added 16 points for the Gamecocks, who never trailed despite missing 10 consecutive shots at one point in the first half.
Mississippi was missing its leading scorer, Deandre Burnett, who sat on the bench with a boot on his leg. The junior averages 18 points per game. Cullen Neal led Mississippi with 12 points.
TENNESSEE 87,
VANDERBILT 75
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Freshman Jordan Bone scored a season-best 23 points, and Tennessee beat Vanderbilt to snap a three-game skid.
Bone topped the 21 points he scored in the Volunteers’ season opener. It was his fifth game back after missing nine games with a stress fracture in his foot. He came into the game having hit only 1 of 10 three-pointers for the season, but he was 4 of 5 from beyond the arc. Admiral Schofield scored 15 points, Robert Hubbs III, Grant Williams and Lamonte Turner each had 12 for Tennessee (9-8, 2-3).
Luke Kornet scored 18 points to lead Vanderbilt (8-9, 2-3), which lost its third in a row. Matthew Fisher-Davis and Jeff Roberson each had 12, and Nolan Cressler and Joe Toye added 10 apiece.
Sports on 01/15/2017